Epidemiological characterisation of Neisseria gonorrhoeae isolates from the Far East

One hundred strains of Neisseria gonorrhoeae (including 30 penicillinase producing (PPNG) strains) originating from Korea were characterised by plasmid analysis, auxotyping, and serogrouping. Eighty per cent of the isolates possessed the conjugative 24.5 megadalton (Mdal) plasmid. A novel 7.8 Mdal plasmid was present in four isolates (one PPNG and three non-PPNG strains). Seventy five per cent of all the strains tested were wild type and belonged to serogroup WII, while 20% were proline requiring and belonged to serogroup WII. Two of the remaining strains were tyrosine auxotrophs, while another strain was arginine requiring; these three strains carried the conjugative plasmid and belonged to serogroup WII.